| Abstract: |
The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations Educational,
Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in 2005, entered into force on
18 March 2007 after an incredibly swift ratification process. The Convention
is the culmination of multiple-track efforts that spread over many years with
the objective of providing a binding instrument for the protection and
promotion of cultural diversity at the international level. These efforts,
admirable as they may be, are not however isolated undertakings of goodwill,
but a reaction to economic globalisation, whose advancement has been
significantly furthered by the emergence of enforceable multilateral trade
rules. These very rules, whose bearer is the World Trade Organization (WTO),
have been perceived as the antipode to “culture” and have commanded the
formulation of counteracting norms that may sufficiently “protect” and
“promote”it. Against this backdrop of institutional tension and fragmentation,
the present chapter explicates the emergence of the concept of cultural
diversity on the international policy- and law-making scene and its legal
dimensions given by the new UNESCO Convention. It critically analyses the
Convention’s provisions, in particular the rights and obligations of the State
Parties, and asks whether indeed the UNESCO Convention provides a sufficient
and appropriate basis for the protection and promotion of a thriving and
diverse cultural environment. [NCCR WP No 2009/10] |